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Basque The language of the Basques. Western Pyrenees and the Bay of Biscay in France and Spain. Basque (native name: Euskara) is the language spoken by the Basque people who inhabit the Pyrenees in North-Central Spain and the adjoining region of South-Western France. It is spoken by approximately a quarter of the Basques, with its stronghold in the contiguous area from central Biscay (Bizkaia) through Guipúzcoa (Gipuzkoa), northern Navarre (Nafarroa) and parts of Labourd (Lapurdi) to sparsely populated Lower Navarre (Nafarroa Behera) and Soule (Zuberoa). Until reintroduced into the education system, it had not been spoken in most of Álava (Araba), in western Biscay, or in the southern half of Navarre in the recent past. Out of a total of nearly 3,000,000 Basques, it is estimated that some 1,063,000 speak Basque in which 632,000 are native speakers. Approximately 566,000 of the latter live in the Spanish Basque country, with the rest residing in the French part.[2] A standardised form of the the Basque language called Batua was created at the end of the 20th century. This standard is mainly used in the Spanish Basque country, and to a lesser extent in the Northern Basque Country due to the limited availability of schools teaching in Basque or as a subject. Apart from this standardised version, there are six main Basque dialects, comprising Bizkaian, Gipuzkoan, and Upper Navarrese (in Spain), and Lower Navarrese, Lapurdian, and Zuberoan (in France). However, the dialect boundaries are not congruent with political boundaries.  The Basques occupy a Spanish autonomous community known as the Basque Country (Euskadi), which has significant cultural and political autonomy, the Northern Basque Country in the French department of the Pyrennées Atlantiques, and the autonomous community of Navarre in Spain, which together make up the greater Basque Country (Euskal Herria). The Spanish portion of the Basque historical territory is referred to by Basques as Hegoalde, while the French Basque provinces are referred to as Iparralde. The Basques (Basque: Euskaldunak) are a people who inhabit a region spanning over parts of north-central Spain and southwestern France. The name Basque derives from the ancient tribe of the Vascones,[7] described by Ancient Greek historian Strabo as living south of the western Pyrenees and north of the Ebro River, in modern day Navarre and northern Aragon. This tribal name, of unknown etymology, was extended in late Antiquity and the early Middle Ages to cover all Basque-speaking people on either side of the Pyrenees. Basques are now mainly found in an area traditionally known as Euskal Herria, which is located around the western end of the Pyrenees on the coast of the Bay of Biscay. The Basques are known in local languages as: * Euskaldunak ("Basque speakers", also used loosely to describe all ethnic Basques) or euskotarrak ("Natives of the Basque Country", an often mentioned but rarely used neologism) in Basque * Vascos in Spanish * Basques in French * Bascos in Gascon This article discusses the Basques as an ethnic group in contrast to other ethnic groups living in the Basque area. The history of the Basque region as covered here will focus on how that history bears on the Basques as a people. Dictionary: |
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